Testing Aquarium Water

Without testing the quality of the aquarium water aquarist cannot do. Everyone, especially as a beginner aquarist should be able to test the water. It is not difficult, and now and not expensive.

I guess we all know that if a child suddenly for no apparent reason of sick, then the best thing to put him to the thermometer. Rather, he has fever and he was not feeling well. Anyone can measure the temperature. And certainly there is a medical thermometer in the house at all. Temperature measurement – this is the easiest method of diagnosis.

And what aquarist, if the fish suddenly  sick: color and lost appetite, became lethargic, and even more so if they began to show more severe symptoms of distress, such as hemorrhage and the splitting of the fins, shortness of breath? Do not rush to make the aquarium any medications. To begin in diagnosing! After all, myself or my child to begin with you would put a thermometer, is not it?

Obviously, incomparably less than the aquarium room of most natural waters. That’s why the aquarium ecosystem is subject to rapid change. To maintain a steady state it simply is not enough internal resources. These are important for fish health parameters as acidity (pH), the content of ammonia and nitrite can significantly change not what a day – a few hours! The health of the fish it will be reflected very badly. And any medication you do not help them here, on the contrary will only aggravate an adverse situation, further violating the ecological balance in the aquarium. Therefore, the aquarist should be able to confidently manage the fragile ecosystem of the aquarium, and without the diagnosis is simply impossible. To benefit from interfering in the life of the aquarium, you must know what processes take place in it and what results they led.

In the same way as you have a medical thermometer in the house, if you’re a holder of an aquarium, you should have at least a minimum set of aquarium tests. Among them should be made a test to determine the acidity (pH test), the test for the determination of ammonia (test for ammonia / ammonium), a test for the determination of nitrite and nitrate test to determine. In addition, it is useful to know the total and temporary hardness (GH-and KH-tests). Taken together, these tests and are thus “thermometer” – the necessary diagnostic kit, with which you can find trouble in the aquarium ecosystem and promptly rectify the situation.

Using modern aquarium test is very simple. It should be a special measuring cup to collect the right amount of water and make the appropriate reagent drop by drop. Depending on the purpose of the test, it will be necessary either to calculate the number of drops needed to change the color of the sample, or vice versa to make a predetermined number of drops and compare the color of the sample with a special color scale, which, together with a drink included in the test. The instructions attached to the aquarium tests, explain which parameter specifies the test and what values ​​can be considered the norm, and which are dangerous to fish.

If you found trouble on some indicator of what to do next? In other words, what “medicine” needed to “cure” the aquarium ecosystem? First of all, an aquarium with disturbed biological balance needed influx of fresh water. But the trouble is, our tap water is not suitable for fish. From this it is first necessary to remove chlorine, ammonia, heavy metals, if necessary, to stabilize the pH in the optimum values ​​for the fish. In most cases, a simple defense of water for three days, solves this problem. But if you have defended the water there, and the ecological situation in the aquarium requires immediate action, what can you do?

There are several answers to this question.

You can use a good household drinking water purification filter (with no silver in the filter material!), Then heat the water to the desired temperature, at least one hour it and make the aquarium (required to measure the pH: Some filters are significantly change this setting, and then have to adjust the reagent pH + or pH).

You can use boiled water. Water should be boiled, cooled to the desired temperature, proaerirovat at least an hour, and then use it.

Water-cooked methods described above can be immediately replaced by a quarter or even a third of the aquarium.

If you are using cooked quickly tap water is always useful to use a special air-conditioned.

Not always but a Wiki is the ability to quickly prepare the right amount of water using the above methods. Then come to the aid of special reagents that can be used to neutralize the harmful impurities in the water and achieve the desired hydro-chemical parameters. With the help of these same chemicals can quickly “fix” the water and directly into the aquarium.

As you know, we live in an era of change. Now, these changes also affected the aquarium – it was the era of widespread use of aquarium tests and reagents.

Quarantine Newly Purchased Fish.

Aquarium Fish

When purchasing new fish, even the experienced aquarist cannot always see the clinical signs of a disease, since the latter is not always apparent, and the fish that are carriers of pathogens in the external examination is almost impossible to identify. Shares, in the general aquarium of at least one sick or seemingly healthy, but being a carrier of fish pathogens is sufficient for the outbreak of an infectious or parasitic diseases and primarily the young fish are sick. That’s why the newly acquired fish are subjected to quarantine.

To do this, allocate a separate aquarium, which contain no soil and aquatic vegetation. This is due to frequent changes of water in it and conduct disinfection of the tank. In order to maintain the desired oxygen regime of water in it aerated. In the aquarium must fix some nets, bowl scraper, spray, thermometer and other equipment that is disinfected after the removal of fish.

Quarantine term – not less than one month, the fish received from abroad – more than a month. Fish, not shown signs of illness for the duration of the quarantine, transplanted into a common tank. Due to quarantine the fish can be identified with the disease located in the incubation period. This period varies from several days to several weeks, depending on the susceptibility of fish to a given pathogen, from its general condition, the degree of virulence of the pathogen, environmental conditions and other factors.

Sometimes it helps to identify quarantine  not all fish are in the incubation period of disease or are carriers of pathogens of parasitic diseases. It happens that the fish parasite infective agents of several diseases, not just members of different species and families, but also the types. For example, one fish can be found flagellate Costia necatrix family Bodonidae, such as Protozoa, infusoria Chilodonella surrini, viviparous monogenetic trematode Gyrodactylus elegans, and copepod Lernaea cyrinacea family Lernaeidae. This infection is called mixed.

Regular Maintenance of an Aquarium.

Fish Aquarium

Aquarium is beautiful only when it is regularly cared for. Despite the widespread view of the complexity of care, in fact it is much easier than to keep the house, for example, a canary. Canary to feed, drink, brush tray in the cage, thank you for a walk even though it is not necessary. And all this day, just try to leave the poor bird in the hot summer season at the weekend without water and food! Most likely your return, it will not wait. But running properly you can easily keep an aquarium at least for the whole vacation, or anything with him or with the fishes will not happen. Hard to believe, is not it? Yet it is true.

If starting a new aquarium you will comply with all the steps – first bought an aquarium, filled ground, planted the plants, water filled and, most importantly, they gave him to stand at least a week before buying the fish, then at an early stage any problems should arise. Well, maybe if you decide to generously feed the fish right half of the contents of the jars available feed, and this at once spoiled water. But the days pass, and at such a neat sand begins to appear first dirt on the glass to appear on a distinguished film and micro-organisms, and so neat when you buy a bush plant suddenly starts to go out of the water. What to do? What’s wrong? And in fact, all right, and do not need to be afraid, just the time has come for the first time to clean the aquarium.

Aquarium as well as any home needs regular cleaning. While cleaning her apartment, usually immediately and ventilated. The aquarium in the process of cleaning you will substitute some of the water. And in this procedure is no big deal, especially since it is sufficient to carry out only once a week, and if the fish a little, then enough for two times per month. Compare this with the daily cleaning of the canary!

To care for the aquarium, we need a bucket, a regular or special hose with a nozzle-siphon (hose of the best to use a transparent fillms, ordinary rubber may produce undesirable components in the water, and the rubber is aging rapidly, and becomes unfit for use), a special scraper for glass and possible pair of scissors. Scissors will be needed in case of need to trim excessively overgrown plants, although many aquarists simply break off his hands. But the main tool is still a hose and bucket.

We begin with a clean glass. The fact that the glass is always picking up the lower algae and various microorganisms inhabit, thereby impairing visibility. If a strong light and bright areas are actively breeding green algae, they look like green fuzz on the rocks, leaves, plants and windows. Brown patina on the glass and leaves of plants indicates a lack of lighting and the colonies called diatoms. The easiest way to remove algae from glass is to use a special comb. Scrapers are magnetic; these consist of two parts one of which is placed in water, while the other pulls it through the glass outside. As a result, you can safely, even without wetting the hands of just driving on the glass, and part of being in an aquarium will be with scrape plaque from the walls.

Another pig is a sponge on a wooden handle. They are also quite convenient to clean glass aquarium, but for deeper tanks, he will not do. But a sponge can be cleaned aquariums made of plastic, magnetic scraper is easy to scratch their walls. However, there are magnetic scrapers specifically for plastic glasses, but they rarely occur in the sale. If the scraper is not at all, then you can either use a new clean sponge for dishes, or a razor blade (be careful, the blade can scratch the glass, even ordinary, not to mention organic) or use an old nylon stocking. Please note, all methods of removing algae with a sponge or a stocking require great physical effort, as it does not look, but the magnetic scraper is preferable.

But the scraper can clean just the glass, but what about the leaves of plants or rocks, driftwood and other decorative elements? There may come to the aid of fish feed on algae. The most popular algae – Ancistrus. Even a Ancistrus able to shine clean the aquarium for 50 liters, more importantly keep it on a starvation diet. This is connected with the fact that if you get a lot of Ancistrus feed, then they stop nibbling algae from glass, preferring to watch “manna from heaven” at the trough. I think this one can understand – why do all day puff on the glass scraping thin plenochkoy algae. If the food and so drops you right on the head? It is also very nice to clean the tank of algae – especially guppies and mollienezii. Try not to feed them a couple of days and they all instantly algal overgrowth, leading aquarium in the sparkling look! There are other fish in the aquarium contained specifically to clean the glass, but I will tell about them another time.

But on the snails in this important matter should not be relied. They often give birth to this very purpose, but in fact they eat algae and a little uneven, leaving just the glass of the intricate patterns in algae tracks.

The next step after cleaning the glass will be cleaning the filter. In the most common internal filters filter material consists of special water-resistant foam. The filter is switched off, carefully pulled out (some filters be disconnected without turning off the filter compartment), and rushes to the bathroom or the kitchen for washing. Usually, simply rinse the sponge under running warm water, then put back into the filter and return it to the aquarium. But about once every two months is useful to completely disassemble the filter mechanism, remove it from the rotor and remove him from the accumulated mucus and dirt, and clean the nozzle of the filter. Very easy to use for that old toothbrush unnecessary.

As you can see, there is nothing difficult to clean the aquarium there. Glass is easy to clean, you can even throw this honorable duty on the fish. However the bathroom to wash the filter in the fish until you know how, but this minute operation is unlikely to cause someone trouble. Thus, we can safely go to the most important – the substitution of water in the tank. Water is the habitat of fish and plants, and regular replacement of its very beneficial effect on the state aquarium inhabitants. With fresh water in the tank are made necessary for the development of plants doses of trace elements, and an old water tank is removed from the waste products of the fish. It remains only to explain exactly how it’s done.

Probably all seen as drivers with a hose is drained from the fuel tank? It’s very simple – the hose pushes the tank (in this case to the aquarium), the other end is taken into the mouth and the liquid (water or gasoline) to gently sucked. After a little practice, it turns out quite easily and happily murmuring water rushes from the tank to the outstretched pot. Of course, the bucket must be below the water level in the tank, otherwise it will not work. You can do another thing – the whole tube is heated in the tank, completely filled with water, then gently clamped ends of the hose, one end is transferred to the bucket and there released. Even if the hose will be a small amount of air bubbles – this is not scary. They will make the water flow. Also on sale are all sorts of devices to facilitate this process – hose with a rubber bulb (it is built overlooking the water valve in one direction only), or even special electrical traps on batteries. But for simplicity and low cost of conventional hose it’s best! One note, do not try to take the hose is too large diameter for a thorough cleaning of the aquarium would be the best pipe diameter 10-15mm, max. Thicker tubes are useful only when the substitution of large quantities of water immediately, using them to clean the inconvenient – until the end of the hose a handful of dirt on the bottom, the bucket is already time to be filled.

So, water is poured into the bucket, what do you do next? Again, nothing complicated – you bring the other end deep into the tank (it is better to stick his hand into the water, otherwise the hose is too difficult to send in the right places) and start to drive them in places where dirt or remains of half-eaten food. Just a word of caution – the current of water gives a very strong and can begin to suck sand from the bottom, and careless or too curious fish may also tighten. To loosen a bit during the end of the hose often wear a funnel. This greatly simplifies the process of cleaning, and the sand remains in the tank, but not all migrate into the bucket.

In pet stores often sell special tools – a kind worn by the cylinder hose to clean the aquarium. This arrangement is called a siphon, and although it’s all just kind of in the hopper, but it gives the aquarist another great opportunity – siphon primer. Let me explain what this means. The fact that the soil is constantly fail micro particles are not eaten by fish feed and feces that have accumulated there in large numbers may begin to rot. Of course, part of the accumulated in the soil is used as fertilizer plants, but all is good in moderation! The fact that participating in the process of putrefaction bacteria produce hydrogen sulfide, which is a poisonous gas in the tank, and it is not the place. In such cases, aquarists say that the soil “sour” is defined by it’s very easy – just cranking out his hand and sniffed the ground had risen to the surface of bubbles. If the bubble does not exist or they do not smell, it’s all right. But if they smell like rotten eggs – hence an urgent need to siphon the ground.

The process itself soil is different from the normal water changes, just use the hose only planted on his end of the cylinder is found not only on the ground and stuck to it. Stuck, raised a storm of sand and pebbles are pulled over, and with them, and all the accumulated dirt in the sand. But the heavy stones, they rise up to half of the cylinder and falls back down, and the lighter particles of dirt carries a current of water. Once the water in the cylinder becomes transparent – it stuck in the neighboring area of ??the soil. And so on until the bucket is full. At first the water flow will be obtained is too large, such as brushed and nothing at all, a piece in a couple of palm size, and the bucket is already full. But with practice efficiency will increase, and there is no need to wait long to sand absolutely everything in it. Just a few seconds without having to wait until the first portion of the elongated leaves and ground haze through the hose into the bucket is already possible to stick a siphon into the adjacent area. You can remember on which part you left off and continue to siphon it into next week. It will be preferable to just replace the tank too much water.

Speaking of the substitution. The aquarium will NEVER have to change all the water! Those who have to clean the tank drag the whole thing a bath, the fish are planted in a pot and wash it up to boiling of ground – comes completely wrong. The norm in the aquarium water changes from 10 to 25% of the total in a week. Suppose you have an aquarium of 100 liters. Then it means that you can just pour out of him and a half or two buckets of water (the usual bucket has a capacity of 10-12 liters), and pour fresh water to the desired level. That’s it!. The second error – they say the water for substitution must necessarily be a distance not less than one day. Not at all! Years of experience and hundreds of thousands of experienced hobbyists shows that the water can without any problem pouring straight from the tap. And the cold water tank at a temperature of 25 degrees, even the Gulf of two buckets of cold water from ordinary tap water you get a drop in temperature on the strength of 1 degree. And then turned on the heater (all modern heaters have built-in thermostat) quickly align the temperature to be necessary. You may ask – why must the cold, because you can mix it with hot water to the desired temperature? But this, precisely, do not be! The fact that the heating plant and the boiler formed to fight the scum inside the hot pipes, using various chemical additives, which can be deadly to your pets. In this aquarists use only cold water, in extreme cases can pour tea into a bucket of hot water to raise the temperature. And it makes sense to protect the water only at very strong chlorination of the water when a strong smell of chlorine. By the way, “whitish” water, which is often mistaken for a strong chlorine, nothing to do with chlorine does not, it is only whipped high pressure air microbubbles. They instantly evaporate from the dishes, enough to give the water stand for a couple of minutes. But to remove the chlorine from the water need much more time, not less than one day. But I repeat once again – to defend the water makes sense only if clearly expressed a strong smell of chlorine in all other cases it can be safely substitutes just like that. If you are still afraid to pour into the aquarium water does not defend, and defend it and have no place in what, in pet stores sell many kinds of air conditioners for the aquarium water. They not only remove chlorine to it, but also bind and neutralize a variety of harmful heavy metals and nitrogen compounds.

It’s all about what I wanted to tell at this time. As you can see in the regular care of the aquarium there is nothing complicated, just enough to half an hour once a week to fish will be healthy ( without fish antibiotics) and plants feel good, and the tank remains clean and beautiful. Agree – this is not so much, for half an hour a week?

Large choice of fish and bird antibiotics

Large choice of fish and bird antibiotics